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  “Jesus, Miranda!” Jason swore as he raced over, his expression a mix of anger and horror. “Are you all right?” He grabbed her hand and gently pried his camera bag out of her death grip.

  “I’m absolutely fine.”

  “The guy had a gun, Miranda. A gun! What in Sam Hill were you thinking?”

  She blinked in surprise at his outburst and glanced back to the mystery man. His heated interest had faded into cool professionalism, and she was heartily glad. The overwhelming disappointment she chose to ignore.

  “It was only a little gun.” She braced her hands on her hips. “And he never saw me coming.”

  Jason shook his head. “Man, I’ve held my breath this entire trip, fighting a doomed feeling that somethin’s gonna blow this too-good-to-be-true assignment. We’re finally here and what do I see? You, attacking a crazy gunman with my eight-hundred-dollar camera! What kind of insane risk was that to take?”

  “For me?” She grinned. “Or for the camera?”

  He shot her a narrow-eyed glare.

  “Look, I’m fine. Your camera’s fine.” She flicked her head toward Mr. I’m-Not-A-Cop. “And so is he, thanks to all the equipment you cram in that case.”

  “He, who?”

  She turned, only to discover they were alone. Mystery man now stood talking to a couple of uniformed police near the door.

  She pointed. “Him.”

  Jason threw a careless glance in the general direction of the doorway. “Whoever he is, I’m sure he’s properly grateful, and I’m incredibly impressed with your bravery. But pleeease, save the heroics ’til the end of the trip. We haven’t seen the first thing yet. Agreed?”

  Miranda barely heard him. Her gaze locked onto the lion-eyed temptation by the door. She pictured him against a backdrop of wilderness. Belonging, challenging, mastering the elements. Her captivated stare caught his attention for he looked straight at her, and the smile he sent her way tripped her heartbeat.

  “Miranda!” Jason shouted.

  “All right!” she snapped, then instantly regretted it. None of this was Jason’s fault. His enthusiasm for this trip rivaled hers. “I promise to restrain myself until the bitter end. Satisfied?”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  She scowled at him.

  “Don’t go getting all fussy. Wait here. I’m going back for our bags.” He took two steps and turned around. “Stay out of trouble.”

  “No problem.”

  With a dubious glance, Jason headed for baggage claim again, taking his prize camera bag with him. Yet the second he turned away, her eyes shot straight for the door.

  The lion was gone.

  Chapter 4

  Sitting on the outskirts of town and adjoining the Gaborone Game Reserve, Katanga rose like an oasis in an endless expanse of brown. A three-story, gray stucco and stone castle, it jutted from austere surroundings like a fortress amidst a canopy of green. Imposing English turrets and battlements stood sentinel, guarding her domain with gothic irony. The eye-catching grandeur was unexpected in the African desert, a contradiction that stood severely out of place yet somehow belonged.

  Matt smiled to himself as he drove onto the grounds early Tuesday morning, day one of his new job. From the look of things, this promised to be the Tiffany’s of undercover jobs. He usually worked baser digs where he was lucky to have a private tree to piss behind. Katanga would be a welcome change of pace.

  He pulled slowly through the parking lot, absorbing every detail of one seriously spread-out compound. Their website claimed thirty-two hectares of land. Beyond the main castle, there were two elephant-sized stables, a warehouse, several smaller outbuildings, and their most recent addition, an oasis pool under a massive glass-domed roof.

  Finding diamonds in a haystack this big may prove a challenge. He definitely had his work cut out for him.

  He parked as far back as possible and used the long walk to the front to scope out his latest employer. Unlike castles of yore, Katanga had no protective moat. But it did have enough landscaping to hide an army. They also sported pivoting floodlights, visible security cameras, and miles of fence to mark its boundaries. The place was built for show and clearly spelled big money, not the sort of place to run conflict diamonds. Too bad all signs pointed toward corruption. If his sources proved true, then he and his new employer were going to have issues.

  He rounded the castle’s front, passed a towering flagpole flying Botswana’s light blue flag, and navigated a gratuitous drawbridge to massive oak and iron doors.

  The minute he crossed the threshold any resemblance to a castle vanished. He stared in amazement at a two-story grand rotunda that greeted visitors with the wonder of a celebrated museum. The massive room was a tribute to tribal life, village art, and symbolic totems. There were plants, animals, fossils, and enough children running loose to fill the half-dozen school buses in the parking lot.

  “Where would you like your safari to begin, sir?”

  A teenage boy carrying a walkie-talkie had slipped up on him while he’d stood gawking. That kind of inattention got a guy in trouble. Not a good start.

  “Employment office,” Matt replied. “Got a date with Warren Graham.” He gave the kid his name and watched him repeat it into the radio.

  With a short jerk of his head, his tour guide led the way to one of three vast tunnel-like hallways that exited the main rotunda and stopped at a set of elevators.

  “Been working here long?” Matt asked as they stepped inside a lift.

  “A while,” the kid mumbled.

  As they headed up, Matt tried again. “They treat you good here?”

  The two-way radio crackled, and the teen fiddled with a dial on the top, ignoring his question.

  He wasn’t getting much out of this one. If everyone around here kept this closed-mouthed, finding information might prove a challenge.

  At the third floor, the doors slid open, and the kid pointed down the hall. “Graham’s the fifth office on the left.”

  “Thanks for the ride.” Matt took off down a hallway filled with opaque glass doors. As promised, number five read Warren Graham, Employment Director.

  He took a deep breath to settle into his new role, rapped twice, then stepped inside.

  “You Bennett?” asked a heavy-set man with a full white beard. He slammed a filing cabinet closed and carried a few folders with him to his desk.

  “Yeah,” Matt fired back. “You Graham?”

  “Don’t get cocky.” A leather executive chair groaned under the man’s weight as he sat. “I don’t care if you have friends in high places. They won’t get you any special treatment around here.”

  “Not expecting any.” Matt settled into a substantially less comfortable chair in front of Graham’s desk. “And for the record, there’s no such friend. I needed a job and knew somebody that knew somebody. I called in a favor.”

  “Guess that’s why you’re the new janitor and not some hoity-toity with a fancy title.” Graham let loose a hearty guffaw and shoved a stack of papers toward Matt. “These outline the job. Got a problem hauling trash, mucking stables, or following orders?”

  Matt ignored the display of attitude and lifted the top sheet of paper, a flyer on safety. “Not as long as it comes with a steady paycheck,” he replied evenly.

  “We expect more than a full day’s work around here,” Graham continued.

  “Won’t hear any complaints from me. Hard work is good for what ails you.” At least that was what his dad had always believed.

  “Keep in mind that non-friend of yours won’t prevent you from getting fired.”

  If he were to guess, Matt would say Graham didn’t like being forced to offer a job. Too bad. That was the price paid for government concessions.

  “I’ll manage,” Matt declared drily.

  Graham sat back in his chair. “Let’s get straight to the point. We have strict rules around here. Break one and it’s over for you.”
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  The warnings were getting downright old. “You got a handbook listing all the no-nos?”

  “In those papers,” Graham said with a flat stare. “Activity goes on here day and night with supply shipments and animal deliveries. Security is tight and some areas off limits. If you want to keep the job, always operate for the benefit of Katanga. Is that clear?”

  “Maintain privacy and expect controls.” Matt nodded. “Check.”

  Graham leaned forward, elbows on his desk as he cracked his knuckles. He stared hard at Matt, animosity clear as daylight. No doubt he debated hiring him despite government persuasion, but Matt waited, knowing Graham couldn’t refuse.

  “Haul your ass down to the end of the hall,” he finally said. “Fill out some paperwork and Rob Jenkins will get you a badge and uniform. He’ll show you around the facility.”

  Matt grabbed his papers and stood. “Been a real pleasure getting to know you, Graham,” he said with a forced smile.

  “Yeah,” his new boss snorted. “It’s the start of a beautiful friendship. Now get the hell out of my office.”

  * * * *

  Four people perched high atop a manmade safety ridge in Katanga’s oasis pool. They were soaking wet, muddy, and a little bruised, not to mention humbled from being outsmarted by a hippopotamus. Estelle had quickly turned into the most difficult patient Miranda ever had. The hippo was beyond unhappy. She was in pain. And any animal with a jaw capable of opening four feet wide and lower incisors twenty-eight inches long, well, they had the kind of deadly force no one took lightly.

  Leaning back against the ridge, Miranda pulled the tight hair band from her head and tried to rub life back into her brain. Four hours into this operation and they still couldn’t coax a stubborn hippo past a camouflaged gate she was supposedly unaware of. What was left to try?

  She gazed out over the exceptional pool, a mammoth-sized enclosure that mimicked Estelle’s natural habitat, complete with rocks, soil, and grasses that thrived inside the Okavango Delta, her native land. Everything a normal hippopotamus could ask for.

  Unfortunately, nothing about Estelle was normal.

  “Unbelievable,” Jason said in exasperation. “She’s the most contrary female I’ve ever met.”

  “Ha,” barked Senga, one of two Katanga employees sitting with them. “My wife could give this surly one lessons.”

  “It’s true.” Kiv nodded solemnly.

  “Wow, that’s rough.” Jason looked at Senga with bleary-eyed sympathy. “Remind me not to ask for an introduction.”

  While her companions shared a laugh, Miranda scooted to the edge of the ridge. She glared eyeball to eyeball with the agitated hippo.

  Estelle huffed her disdain from the security of the pool.

  Clearly the hippo liked causing trouble. But Miranda knew obstinate. It was a technique she’d used extensively the last few years, an end result of one dismal dating experience after the other. Lucky in love she wasn’t, but her job was another story. That she had control over. She understood her clientele. And there was no way she’d let a devious hippo win the day.

  She pushed back from the edge and sat up, brushing dirt from her shirt. “Estelle knows,” she said. “She knows and refuses to cooperate.”

  “Not possible,” Senga said in heavily accented English. “She new to pool.”

  “She senses our intent.” Miranda twisted her hair back into its usual ponytail. “Animals are intuitive. Unfortunately, rational behavior doesn’t come with the package. We’re going to have to think of another way.”

  “Another way?” Jason snorted in disgust. “Let’s rehash. Sweet hay she turned down with a swish of her big round nose. Tapes of a distressed baby hippo revealed no maternal instinct whatsoever. And prodding her with the long poles only inspired her to bite one in half. What’s left? Lasso her and ride her into the rodeo stall?”

  Senga’s brows dipped at the absurd suggestion. “Not good plan.”

  “No, indeed.” Miranda glanced back over the ridge and hesitated, debating the wisdom of her next move. That is, until Estelle grumbled loudly, snorting in anger and pain.

  “I have one more idea.” Three heads swiveled Miranda’s direction as she inhaled deep, mentally going over her plan. “We dart her in the water.”

  Jason whistled low and shook his head. “Too risky. She might drown before we get her harnessed.”

  “Not if we drain the pool,” Miranda said. “When the water becomes shallow, we shoot the tranquilizer and push her toward the harness.”

  Jason eyed the size of the pond with a calculating gleam. “Timing will be crucial.”

  “True,” Miranda agreed, pleased with his quick grasp of the possibility. “Once the anesthesia takes hold, our patient will be easier to manipulate. Plus, we confuse her by herding her the opposite direction of the pen.”

  Jason eyed her with an admiring gleam. “Too groggy to fight, disoriented by the change in direction, she’ll be putty in our hands. Brilliant!” He snapped his fingers. “Besides, I got nothing else. It’s worth a try.”

  Senga glanced between them in apprehension. “Your Washington zoo pay much money for Estelle. Albino hippos hard to find.”

  “Please,” Miranda reassured him with a smile. “Try not to worry. We’ll take good care of Estelle.”

  “The risk,” Senga persisted, “it is high, yes?”

  “Senga, my friend,” Jason said as he clapped the man on the back, “your hippo is in fine hands.” His head pointed Miranda’s way. “Doc is the best there is.”

  “Please, easy on the praise,” Miranda said. “It upsets my equilibrium.”

  “Your…what?” Senga looked confused.

  “My balance, my—” She shook her head. “Never mind.” Miranda rose and stood next to the ridge, gazing down. “It’ll be fine, just wait and see.”

  She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. The plan could very well be as dangerous for the crew as it was for Estelle. Hippos had thick layers of skin and fat. You could never be sure how much drug entered their bloodstream.

  Miranda gave a long appraising study of the pool, judged their best options, and made a decision. “Jason, get help to move the crane and harness to that shallow edge.” She pointed to the far side of the pool. “Set it up right there, near those flat rocks. Find some padding to cover them, and we’ll use them as a table.”

  She turned to the other two men. “Senga, you’re in charge of draining the pool. Kiv, you will help me restage the dental lab by those same rocks.”

  Heads bobbed in agreement. In their faces, she saw her father’s steadfast belief in her ability. He loved debating skill and technique with her. That’s how she knew this would work. There’s no way she’d let him down. Success wouldn’t come easy, but Estelle would live to see another day, pain free and in a better mood.

  “All right,” she said. “Let’s get cracking. We’ve an unhappy girl to outsmart.”

  Chapter 5

  Matt tugged at the ill-fitting uniform and rolled his shoulders in an attempt to stretch the fabric across his upper arms. The pinch was a bit uncomfortable, but he’d known worse. He slammed the locker door shut and made his way back through the employee lounge.

  Two women occupied the room, one eating lunch at a table and the other pushing buttons on a microwave. Both looked up when he entered.

  The blonde at the table flashed a flirty smile. “New here?” she asked him.

  “How can you tell?”

  “You’ve got that pained look of someone who doesn’t like uniforms.”

  “Busted.” He pulled up a chair. “You ladies eat here often?”

  Tittering laughter grated across his ears, and the blonde sent a look of interest his way.

  “It beats driving all the way into town,” she said. “Besides, the view just got a little better around here.”

  “Diana!” Her lunch companion rolled her eyes.

  “Well, it did.�
� She smiled boldly at Matt. “I work the library records counter. We don’t see many handsome, rugged types in there. Only moldy scientists and stuffy lab researchers.”

  “Records, huh?” Matt smelled a lead. “You mean like animal origins or shipment details?”

  “That and research study results or technical papers. Boring mostly.”

  This might be the start of something revealing. “I bet you—”

  “Bennett!” Rob Jenkins yelled from the hallway. “We’ve got ground to cover.”

  Bloody hell. For the sake of his audience, Matt stood with a heavy sigh. “Nice guy, gonna be a real gem to work for.”

  The comment sparked another round of annoying giggles as Matt slid his chair back in place. “Nice seeing you ladies,” he said with a tip of an imaginary hat.

  He stepped out into the hallway as Jenkins flipped to the last page on a clipboard. He scribbled a signature and handed it over to a waiting lad.

  “We’ll start touring on admin floor.” He glanced up and frowned, taking in Matt’s straining shoulder seams. “Sorry, it’s the largest we had on hand. I’ll order a bigger size next week.”

  Matt shrugged, then grimaced at the pinch. A better fitting uniform would be nice, but he didn’t plan on being here long enough to worry about it. It shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks to pick up the diamond trail and track it to the source.

  Jenkins started down the hall and Matt followed.

  “Janitors are some of our busiest employees,” Jenkins began. “Endless chores around here. From administrative offices to the stables, your day will be packed with manual labor.”

  For the next hour, he backed up those words with a laundry list of duties. They twisted through a maze of hallways, offices, and supply rooms, all while Jenkins explained the inner workings of Katanga.

  Matt only half listened. The other half mapped out locations to survey later. Places like Victor Keyes office, director of Katanga, and the customs department where international travel papers were generated, even the library. He’d leave no stone unturned.